Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 1:33:41-1:35:23

A 27-knot Dreadnought changes the naval race

Fitting Dreadnought with small-tube boilers could have added enough speed to invalidate contemporary battleship machinery choices.

BattleshipsHMS DreadnoughtNaval Arms RaceSmall Tube BoilersUS Navy
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Question

What would small-tube boilers have changed aboard HMS Dreadnought?

Short answer

They could have produced a roughly 27-knot ship, forcing rival navies to abandon slower machinery much sooner.

Notes

Small-tube boilers are estimated to make a roughly 27-knot Dreadnought possible. That would put the ship about nine knots ahead of existing battleships at the start of the new naval race. Rival fleets would have to respond to its speed as well as its heavy armament. In this counterfactual, the US Navy would have much less room to retain triple-expansion engines in the South Carolina class because they could not deliver the required speed.